By Emin Avundukluoglu
ANKARA (AA) - The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, remains active in Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country, warned a prominent Turkish ruling party lawmaker on Wednesday.
"FETO [the Fetullah Terrorist Organization] is still active in Ethiopia," said Mehmet Ali Cevheri after visiting the country with a group of NGOs, saying that it still runs schools there, as a source of revenue.
"After [FETO] schools in Pakistan were transferred to Turkey's Maarif Foundation, the FETO members who fled the country settled in Ethiopia," said Cevheri, a Justice and Development (AK) Party lawmaker from the southeastern Sanliurfa province.
Cevheri said Turkey should work more actively to fight the terror group in Ethiopia.
In December, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the government to declare FETO a terror group and to ban its affiliated schools in the country.
The court also ordered the transfer of FETO's "movable and immovable assets", schools, colleges, education centers and other similar entities to Turkey’s Maarif Foundation, an association set up to take stewardship of the former terror group-run schools.
FETO has a considerable presence abroad, including private schools which serve as a revenue stream for the terror group.
Cevheri said that he also met with Islamic scholars in Ethiopia.
"They told me that they did not sleep during the 2016 defeated coup, and they prayed for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan all night long," said Cevheri.
He added: "They see Erdogan as a leader who can provide Islamic unity."
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.